The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
The trend in automobile design is toward door handles that are flush with the sheet metal body of the vehicle door so that the vehicle has clean, unobstructed body surfaces. Conventional flush door handles are mounted in the vehicle door so that they can pivot between a flush position, in which they substantially fill an opening in the door, and a fully extended outboard position, in which they are outwardly positioned from the opening, thereby leaving an access for the fingers of the user. However, said conventional flush door handles may suffer from various drawbacks. In particular, when the door handle is in its flush position and starts its displacement toward its fully extended outboard position, a risk exists that the handle scrapes the sheet metal body of the vehicle door. To avoid this issue, a solution is to slightly shift inward the handle with respect to the door in the flush position. However, in this case, the handle is no longer flush with the vehicle door.